More than They Bargained For
by Witch4
Summary: McKay and the whole Atlantis expedition get a shock when someone with ties to McKay walks through the Stargate. Rated for later chapters. There is some verbal whumpage.
1. A Not So Normal Day

More than They Bargained For

Disclaimer: I do not own Atlantis, SGA, McKay (I wish I did), or any other Stargate-related characters created by the awesomeness that is the Stargate franchise.

Chapter 1-A Not-So-Normal Day

Why? Why did weird things like this always have to happen to me? Granted, I was living in another galaxy, _Pegasus_ to be exact, where weird was actually normal. And where in Pegasus was I? Well, the Lost City of all lost cities: Atlantis. Yes, that mythical continent that supposedly sank to the bottom of the ocean is up and running thanks to yours truly…and Ancient Elizabeth.

But I digress, back to life in this quaint little area of the Universe. A normal day is as follows: dealing with technology older then what you'd typically find on Earth, fighting off life-sucking alien vampires, occasionally blowing things up. And then there are the _not_ so normal days here.

Like the one I'm having today.

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Sorry it's so short! I'll try to make longer chapters next time. 


	2. A Great Start to the Day

Disclaimer: Same as before.

A/N: Thank you to aphrael for noticing that my beta-reader (shame on you Lili) changed something. She hasn't seen the episode "McKay & Mrs. Miller" so she thought I'd put in the wrong name. (Sorry!-Lili)

Chapter 2-A Great Start to the Day

"McKay!" I heard behind me as I walked down the hallway that led to my lab after breakfast.

I don't know what made me do it, but I stopped and turned around to see our resident Conan the Barbarian, or, more accurately, Ronon the Satedan, following me with a gleam in his evil ex-runner's eyes.

"What?!" I asked, already annoyed by the fact that the one day I decided to get up early I slept in and lost valuable experiment-running time. Oh God, I've been around him and Shepard too long.

"We had a training session scheduled for today; remember?" he asks as he catches up to me in a few long strides.

"Let's postpone it for today, okay? I have a lot of work to do today. There's the-"

No sooner had I spoken, then our ever-present radios went off. "McKay, Ronon report to the Gate Room!" Shepard, fearless leader of the military contingent here and our own team leader, barked into our ears.

"We'll be there in five," Ronon answered before grabbing my arm and practically dragging me in the opposite direction towards the nearest transporter and in less than a minute, we are 10 metres away from the central control tower of Atlantis.

When we get there, we hear the order "Additional security to the Stargate." I quickly wonder why they need additional security when I see Marines, Lorne, Teyla, Shepard and Ronon surrounding a young woman who could be an almost identical twin to my younger sister Jeanie, with the exception of light brown hair as opposed to Jeanie's blonde locks.

When I look over one of the railings, I immediately hear a voice calling "Uncle Meredith!" as the unknown woman tries to get to me before she is restrained by Lorne. I also hear her give a plea of "Major Lorne, let go of me! Don't you people recognize me? I'm Dr. Madison Miller."

And that's when my bad day got worse.

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Soooo…what'd you think? Like it? Hate it? Review it!

Reviews are the food for a writer's soul.


	3. How do You Solve a Problem Like Madison?

Chapter 3-How do You Solve a Problem Like Madison?

This mystery woman who identified herself as my _four-year-old_ niece was soon silenced by Ronon as he stunned her. Shepard gave him a look that said "Why'd you do that?"

The Satedan just shrugged and answered, "She's delusional. Isn't McKay's niece five years old?"

"Actually, she's four. But he's right, you know. (Oh God, why'd I just say that?) She must be delusional to think she's a four-year-old who still calls me…Well, she doesn't call me 'Uncle Meredith,' that's for sure." _That was a close one_, I thought. I almost let them know that she calls me "Umple Merith." What? She's four! When Jeanie was four, she couldn't say Meredith either! She called me…Uh, never mind. Back to the situation at hand.

Following Ronon's "quieting" of the woman who thought she was Madison, Ronon was asked (more like ordered) to report to Elizabeth's office with Shepard and myself. Lorne, after informing the infirmary that they would be getting a "guest" in a few minutes, walked to the nearest teleporter with the woman draped over his shoulder in a fireman's carry, accompanied by Teyla should her assistance be needed and any way, shape, or form. When asked to wait for a medical team, he answered, "We don't know how long she'll be out. That gun of Dex's 'affects different people different ways,' remember?" Why is he allowed to be snippy and snarky when he's quoting me…and others, and I'm not allowed to be when I'm having a bad day? Huh?

Anyway, back in Elizabeth's lab, we were getting the full Elizabeth Weir dress down special. She started her round of yelling, for once, at Shepard. Mr. "I have a powerful natural gene and am in charge of the entire military half of Atlantis and am so cool because I get all the girls which makes me a total Kirk rip-off" was soon looking like one of the poor airmen or privates that usually incur the occasional wrath of Elizabeth when she's in a bad mood or they've managed to royally piss her off in some way.

"So, do we know how a complete stranger managed to get _through_ the shield and onto Atlantis?" she asked the lieutenant colonel.

"No, but around the time the Stargate started up, I did get a weird feeling that something was about to happen."

"What do you mean 'a weird feeling'?" She questioned as she took a seat on the edge of her desk.

"I don't know how to explain it. It's like, like when I'm flying in a jumper and I'm about to get a warning or important reading, I get this strange feeling in the back of my mind that something's about to happen. That kind of feeling."

"I see. And you, Ronon? What is your excuse for shooting, even if it was to stun, a defenseless young woman? And I don't want to hear 'She was crazy' or 'delusional' Specialist Dex." Ooh, he's in serious trouble if she's using his old Satedan military rank to address him. Usually it's just "Ronon" or "Mr. Dex." "Specialist Dex" means he's screwed up big time.

"Besides the fact that she was obviously out of her mind," wow, maybe he's the one that's been around us too long, eh? "I got the strange weird feeling from her that Shepard got from the Gate opening up. I can't really explain it. All I know is that there was something not-quite-right about her and I didn't want to compromise the security of this city by allowing an unknown individual any sort of visual access while she was being taken to the brig." Okay, maybe he's just been around Shepard, Lorne, and the Marines for too long. He's starting to talk in full sentences and make some sort of arcane sense. Either that or I've been around these military types for too long. Either thought is scary enough.

"I see," uh-oh, she's back to the "I see" thing. "In a way, that makes sense. Thank you for your quick fore-thought on this, Ronon." Oh, I see how it is. The big oaf gives a smart answer for the first time in ages and he gets forgiven for his actions. I say smart things all the time and usually end up with _no_ thanks to speak of!

And now she's looking at me. "Now Rodney, care to explain why our mystery guest addressed you as 'Uncle Meredith'? Do you have any other nieces or god-daughters that are around twenty-five?" At this point, and it's now a very short point where I'm soncerned, Shepard and Ronon are looking at me.

"Uh, not that I know of," I say slowly as I try to think through my vast consciousness. Oh the trials and tribulations of being a genius.

"Uh-huh. Nice one, McKay," Shepard says from his seat next to me. Ronon just grunts from his leaning spot on the wall.

"Unless…" I snap my fingers (Shepard says it's a very annoying habit I have when I get an idea. I've told him before that it's just my inner musician figuring out the rhythm and beats of life.) I get up and run out the door, data pad in hand, and hurry to one of the consuls in the area of the central tower that overlooks the Stargate.

"Rodney?" Elizabeth questions as she and the Gun Brothers follow me.

I start plugging the data pad into the control consul and begin typing in possible algorithms and strategies that might explain what happened. "On one of SG-1's early missions, a solar flare sent them back in time to the year 1969. I'm thinking-"

"That this woman might actually be Madison Miller, twenty years older?" Elizabeth finishes my thought.

"Exactly. But-" I look up from my data, "there's a problem. There weren't any solar flares at the exact time that she came through. Which means-"

"Which means that we still don't know what to do with her," Shepard finishes.

Oh boy, what else could go wrong?

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I promised you all longer chapters, and here's the longest so far! I hope you liked it! 


	4. Little Girl Grown Up

I apologize if there are any mistakes as it is currently 2 in the morning and my beta-reader is most likely asleep (ah, the life of a weekend worker).

Also, this chapter is no longer from McKay's perspective. Enjoy the normal third person extravaganza!

Chapter 4-Little Girl Grown Up

"Ow. I'm going to kill Ronon. Or Miko will, she does have a soft-spot for me," Dr. Madison Miller, age 29, said to herself as she woke up from her Ronon-stunner-induced sleep. The next thing she noticed, aside from the pounding head, was that she was in the brig of Atlantis. "Bloody hell! I suppose the next thing I'll notice is that they took my staff."

Madison, or Maddie as her friends and husband knew her as, checked her right boot and was satisfied to discover that her captors, aka the people she'd known for the last six years, had missed the Jaffa-made retractable staff that had been given to her by SG-1's Teal'c as a gift for receiving her PhD in theoretical and practical astrophysics at the tender age of 21. General O'Neill had explained that Teal'c had had it made for her mostly because she wasn't quite as annoying as her uncle, the infamous Dr. Meredith Rodney McKay.

Once she was sure that the knives that Ronon had insisted she keep on her person were still in place in her other boot, she began to assess her situation. _I've been on Atlantis too long. I'm starting to think like the military. Or Ronon. Oh God, I don't know which is worse; thinking like the military or like Ronon._ As she was continuing the inner custom-McKay-esque snarkiness that people had come to expect from anyone related to the physicist, she failed to notice that she was being watched, or rather, monitored from a closed-circuit camera.

"I'm beginning to see some similarities to McKay," Ronon told Shepard as the two watched the young woman on the screen.

"Yeah? How so?" the other man asked.

"She's really fidgety. She doesn't seem to want to sit still," he answered as they watched the younger McKay relation pace her confines.

"I guess you're right about that. But I still can't believe that that woman in there is the same four-year-old kid that McKay showed us pictures of last week."

"Don't forget that he made us sit through that video thing," the Satedan added, remembering the video of the little girl's ballet recital that the scientist's sister had sent along with the photos.

"Has 'Sleeping Beauty' woken up yet?" Lorne asked as he and an unusually quiet McKay approached the pair.

"Yeah, about five minutes ago. She really seems to be related to you McKay; she's got the fidgeting, pacing, & talking to herself down pat," Shepard told his teammate as the other man looked at the video screens.

"Have you decided what you're going to do with her if I can't figure out a way to send her back?" he asked, ignoring, or simply not hearing, the joking his team leader had given the Canadian and his family a moment ago.

"No, not yet. I was going to wait a few more minutes until Elizabeth got here to question her." He turned to the scientist. "You know you don't have to be here."

"I know; it's just…It's just that some of the things that she tells you might be family-related and so I might be able to tell you if it's true or not and-"

"And you want to know if she really is your niece," Ronon finished.

"Yeah."

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Okay, so that was chapter 4. What'd you think? Is it good or bad for something written at 2 in the morning? Please review, it feeds my soul! 


	5. Time to Face the Music

Thank you to Cptn. Suz for the suggestion for this chapter. This is _still_ in third person. Once again, all mistakes are mine. Enjoy!

Chapter 5-Time to Face the Music

Ten minutes after Lorne and McKay entered the brig's security room, Teyla and Weir entered, followed by two Marines.

"Everyone ready?" Shepard questioned the group assembled. There were various nods and an uncharacteristic meep sound from McKay. "All right, let's go see what the young lady has to say."

_Young lady?_ Lorne thought to himself. _She looks like my cousin Melissa's age. She can't be more than a few years older than Teyla._ The Major shook these thoughts from his head and followed the small group out to where their "prisoner" sat on the mattress that lay on the floor.

---

"So, are you really Madison Miller?" a familiar, yet younger voice asked Maddie, pulling her out of her thinking.

She looked up and was greeted by _both_ of her bosses, General John Shepard and Dr. Elizabeth Weir, both off-world security Specialist Ronon Dex and Atlantis's head of security Lt. Col. Evan Lorne, the Athosian leader Teyla Emmagen-Shepard, and her own flesh-and-blood, Dr. Meredith Rodney McKay. Granted, they looked about 25 years younger, but-_Wait; 25 years younger? That can't be right._ Maddie carefully looked over each person standing in front of her; she recognized them, even one of the Marines standing in back near the door. _I think that's Sgt. Simms_, she thought before turning back to the man that had addressed her.

Standing up to her full height of 170cm (about 5'7") she looked him straight in the eyes and answered, "Yes, my name is Dr. Madison Miller. I take it you're not a general yet?" Her question was answered by a puzzled look on the man's face.

"No, I'm not a general, _Doctor_. I'm Lt.-"

"Col. John Shepard of the United States Air Force, currently the military commanding officer of the Alterran city of Atlantis in the Pegasus Galaxy," she finished before turning to Lorne. "Which means that you are Major Evan Lorne, also of the United States Air Force, executive officer of Atlantis's military contingent and head of security." She smiled at seeing their surprised faces. Oh, the life of a person with the McKay attitude. She silently thanked her mother back on Earth that she had inherited this little gem of a personality trait.

"Okay, Dr. Miller, if that is indeed your name. ('I've always wanted to say that' Shepard told no one in particular)"

Maddie rolled her eyes. "Yes, that's my real name. Get on with it."

"Right then. What's your full name?"

Maddie let out a sigh before saying, "Without the 'doctor' part, my full name is Madison Meredith Miller-Halgen. But everyone calls me Maddie."

Teyla let out a small gasp as she recognized the second half of Maddie's last name. "You are somehow related to Halling and Jinto?" she asked.

"Jinto's my husband. But, based on Shepard and Lorne's ranks, not for at least 20 years. Next question," she turned her attention back to the whole group while Shepard quitely talked to McKay, who seemed to be nodding.

"All right, Ms. Miller-"

"It's Doctor, Lt. Col."

"Right; _Dr._ Miller. You got the name right (Maddie scoffed), can you tell us your birthday?"

Maddie sighed again. This was tedious. "July 2, 2002. And while we're at it, my parents are Jeanie McKay and Kaleb Miller. My paternal grandparents are Maria Gonzalez and Roger Miller; my maternal grandparents are Alice Jones and Henry McKay. The only sibling either of my parents have is Uncle Mer- sorry, Rodney over here and I'm guessing that the annoyances in my life known as my brother and sister haven't even been conceived yet. Oh yeah, and I'm right-handed." She finished her tirade with a huff and sat down.

Lorne whispered to Ronon, "Well, if she's got anything that points to her being related to McKay, it's definitely the trademark McKay attitude." Ronon only grunted.

The "interrogation" was interrupted by a Marine coming in with a covered tray and a thermos. Weir turned to the group assembled and said that they would come back in two hours, giving Maddie enough time to eat and pull herself together. Without another word, the third Marine placed the covered tray and thermos on the ground next to the prison and the group left.

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Well? Good? Bad? In-between? Keep in mind that I started writing this at about 4 in the morning. 


	6. Little Girl Lost

Chapter 6-Little Girl Lost

Just as Dr. Weir had promised, two hours later the group was back, sans Marines. Maddie couldn't figure them out. Most of her life she had heard of her uncle and his friends and how they were a seamless unit, but these guys seemed to be anything but that.

"So, how was the meal?" Sheppard asked.

"I've had beter here, but then again, you haven't come across any new trading partners recently, have you?" Maddie smirked as she watched the uncomfortable looks on her elders' faces as the truth about their trading situation came to light. "I thought as much. In my time, Atlantis has made many more trading partners, despite the Wraith presence."

"So we are no closer to defeating the Wraith in your time?" Teyla asked.

"We're close, but there have been set-backs. Your encounters with Michael weren't a whole lot of help, but there has been some progress."

"Well, that's good to know," Weir said.

An uncomfortable silence suddenly permeated the entire room. However, it was soon broken by Weir's radio going off.

"Understood. I'll be there soon. Weir out." She turned to Sheppard and he followed her out of the room with Lorne and Ronon on his heels. No one but Teyla noticed that, despite the fact that the younger McKay's attention was elsewhere, her colleague's had turned to the woman as if he were studying her.

"How long have you and Jinto been married?" he asked the girl. That's what she truly looked like in the cage. A little girl lost.

"Four years. We met on my second day here. We literally ran into each other." Teyla smiled as she heard the trademark "lit-terally" that she had often heard in Rodney's speech. Maddie continued, "He had just come back from a trading mission with Teyla and the younger Athosians and was headed towards his Atlantis quarters. He wouldn't stop apologizing." She laughed at the memory. "When you found out that we were dating, you did everything in your power to keep us apart. Ronon had to practically hold you down while Teyla, Sheppard, and Elizabeth attempted to talk some sense into you."

"That sounds like something that would happen," Sheppard said as he reentered the room and stood beside Teyla. He leaned down and whispered something into her ear and watched as the Athosian leader _and his future wife_, Maddie thought to herself, turned to McKay, grabbed him by the hand, and led him out of the room.

"Let me guess, more questions?" Maddie asked the military commander as she watched her uncle and the shorter woman leave.

"Nope. Until your uncle leaves his walking semi-catatonic state, you're going to be helping Zelenka and his team figure out how you got here and how to get you back." He walked to the cage she was in and put in the code to unlock the door before handing her a duffle bag. "Teyla will show you to your quarters so you can change, and then you report to Dr. Beckett for a check-up before you go help Dr. Z."

The Air Force colonel turned and walked out of the room, not looking back to see if she was following. Maddie picked up the bag she had dropped in shock, and quickly followed the man out into the security room before being joined by Teyla wholed her out to a corridor and a nearby transporter.

Teyla felt sorry for the young woman as she watched her from the corner of her eye. _She is truly a little girl lost_, the Athosian thought to herself as they exited the transporter and headed to quarters that she knew were empty. As she led the time-traveler into the room, she couldn't help but feel even sorrier for this woman in the wrong time.

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Sorry for such a badly written chapter. 


	7. Delving into the Mystery

A/N: For the record, in case you're wondering or confused, some of these chapters were written very early in the morning. I started out with McKay's POV and switched to third person. This chapter is also written in third person.

Also, thank you for the reviews!

Chapter 7-Delving into the Mystery

Maddie followed the future Mrs. Dex (aka Dr. Miko Kusanagi) to the lab where Dr. Radek Zelenka was temporarily set up. She had given up protesting a few minutes before ("But I've lived in Atlantis for 6 years, Miko-chan!") "Dr. Weir asked me to show you where you would be working," was the answer the petite scientist had given the younger McKay as they'd walked to Lab 3. _She's acting like she didn't even hear me. It's like when I first came to Atlantis all over again!_

As the two women walked around a corner, Maddie looked around at the somehow the same _yet different_ hallways that she had walked down hundreds of times before. She soon spotted the panel that her uncle and Zelenka had told her would help her on her mission.

"We are here!" Miko cheerfully announced as they stopped in front of a non-descript door. Pressing the blue panel, the duo waited as the door slid open to reveal a rather disheveled-looking man with glasses and wild hair running around and mumbling in Czech. He briefly stopped his mumbling to acknowledge the newcomers before going back to his mumblings and the calculations that Maddie hadn't seen when the door had first opened.

"Dr. Zelenka," Miko interrupted the man's grumblings. "This is Dr. McKay's niece. Dr. Weir said that you were to work together on the problem of getting her home."

"Yes, fine. Do you know basic theoretical astrophysics calculations?" he asked the new face in Atlantis.

"It's been a while since I've had to use that kind of math, but, yes, I do know it. Why?" Maddie was puzzled by the engineer's question. By the time she had met her uncle's right-hand man, the Czech scientist had published enough articles on the subject of quantum and theoretical astrophysics that he was considered not only a genius engineer, but one of the best people to work under in astrophysics. So why was such a brilliant man asking her such an odd question?

"Good; please tell me what you see missing in that one," he said, pointing to the bottom equation on the board while simultaneously glaring at a young scientist she knew to be Dr. Brett Laughlin, one of the most incompetent men in the all-encompassing field of physics in general.

One look at said equation told her what "the idiot of physics," as he was known in polite company, had forgotten. "The second '8' doesn't need to be this fraction," she said after a moment as she corrected the equation. "But this fraction _does_ need to be inverted," she fixed another part of the equation before moving on. "And 'M' needs to be cubed." She finished fixing the equation and turned to look at the three people standing behind her.

Zelenka glared at Laughlin before saying, "Three easy parts of one simple equation and you could not get right. Get out of this lab!" He pointed to the door and the cowering man hurried out without looking back. Anyone who had ever dealt with an angry Zelenka knew that you didn't dally any longer than necessary.

He turned back to the young woman standing at the board. "You have degree in astrophysics, or you've spent too much time with mother, uncle or both?"

It took Maddie a moment to figure out what he had said since Zelenka's English became a bit muddled when he got angry.

"Uh, I have a PhD in theoretical and practical astrophysics and I did spend a bit too much time with my mom when she worked on her equations and with Uncle Mer-uh, Uncle Rodney when he visited," she answered as she looked at the disarray that had followed Laughlin's hasty departure.

"Hmm, then maybe you are a McKay," Zelenka mumbled to himself as he went back to his work. Neither person noticed that Miko had snuck out while the engineer had been berating the English scientist.

"Uh, Dr. Zelenka?" Maddie approached the engineer to help him pick up the various pieces of equipment that had followed Laughlin's retreat.

"Yes?"

"I've been wondering; do you know anything about inter-dimensional portal reconstruction?"

Zelenka looked at her blankly for a moment before speaking. "I take it this has something to do with why you are here?" Maddie nodded.

"What happens in the future?"

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I hope that wasn't too confusing for anyone. With the whole astrophysics equation, I know nothing about astrophysics and math is not my forte, so I pretty much guessed on that whole part. 


	8. The Truth Behind the Mystery

Still in third person!

Chapter 8-The Truth Behind the Mystery

"What happens in the future?"

Maddie looked at Zelenka. It was obvious that he had some idea of what she was talking about.

"You know that I can't give away anything specific or it will change the entire course of history."

"You have already changed history just by coming here and telling us things. Teyla was here earlier; she told me about Col. Sheppard's interrogation and your talk with your uncle."

Maddie looked down in shame. He was right; just by coming to the past and telling her uncle, and the others, about Jinto, she had already changed a significant amount of history.

"Okay. Well, you remember when Rod came into this universe from his own alternate one to stop the Project Arcturus?" Zelenka nodded. "And, yes, I realize that the McKay that came through said that my parents had two boys, but Robbie turned out to be a girl in this universe. Anyway, in about 15 years, Uncle Rodney has another visit from his alternate self. Rod said that there was a machine that had been trying to corrupt both his universe and ours for the past 15 years which means that it started in this year. So for the next 5 years, teams on both sides of the inter-dimensional portal try to find a way to reverse the damage but as of yet we haven't succeeded. About three months ago, we found a Pegasus Galaxy Quantum Mirror and that helped us with the whole traveling between universes thing. And, yes, I know that when AU Carter and Kawalsky came through all those years ago that AU Carter almost died because of temporal distortion caused by going through the Quantum Mirror, but we've discovered a way to prevent temporal distortion." At this point, Maddie had taken the erasable marker from Zelenka and was now drawing schematics for the device that she was describing. If it wasn't for the fact that he worked with Rodney McKay and was used to the Canadian's way of talking extremely fast, he mused, then he would never have been able to understand his colleague's equally quick-lipped niece.

"So, what do you think, Doctor?"

Zelenka pushed his slipping glasses up the bridge of his nose before responding. "It is ingenious."

"Well, you _are_ the one that thought of it. Even Uncle Rodney had to admit that it was a brilliant plan."

"Well, if Rodney McKay said it was a good plan, than it must be," Sheppard said as he walked into the lab.

"I take it you heard why I'm here, Colonel?" Maddie asked the military man.

"Half of it. I have to say, Dr. Miller, you sure do talk fast. I can definitely see even more McKay in you than most would like to see in a brilliant woman like yourself." Maddie felt herself color.

"Thank you, Colonel. Anyway," she cleared her throat to draw attention away from herself, "If we can find this mirror, than we should be able to make contact with this other universe and warn them of the impending danger."

"I see. And do you know what planet this mirror is on?"

"You," she pointed to the colonel, "Or, actually, the future you, gave me a list of planets to look on in case the mirror wasn't on the planet that we discovered it on."

"I see. Well, you know that we're going to have to run this by Elizabeth first, don't you?" Maddie nodded. "Okay, well than I guess we're going to go have a talk with Elizabeth. Coming Zelenka?"

The Czech engineer nodded and soon the little group was off to find the city's leader and tell her about their new mission.

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So, that was chapter 8. Now we know why Maddie's there and that, once again, the universe is in danger. 


	9. The Truth Comes Out

Chapter 9-The Truth Comes Out

"So, let me get this straight: You came back in time 25 years to stop a danger that you can't exactly give us anything. And from what Dr. Zelenka has said you told him, there is a five year gap between the time you worked on this project and the time you came here."

Maddie lowered her head as she tried to gather herself together. When the danger had finally made itself know, they had all been imprisoned.

"Five years ago, an ancient race called the Nocrighta came to Atlantis. They said that they had been allies of the Alterrans and we believed them. A few months after they came, people started disappearing. First it was some of the military personnel. And then children started vanishing. You ordered an investigation, but not before one of your own children had disappeared. We discovered that the unknown danger we had been fighting for the last five years was actually the Nocrighta. Uncle Rodney looked them up in the data base because Major O'Neill (Sheppard mouth '_Major O'Neill_?' to the others behind her back) said that there was something hinky about their story."

"And was there?" Weir asked her.

"Yep; turns out they were the ones responsible for the damage being done to both universes because they could travel _through_ the fabric of space itself. They had also been behind the disappearances."

"My question right now is _how_ exactly are we going to get this mirror without these Nocksighta- ('No_crigh_ta' Maddie corrected) things finding out what we're doing?" Sheppard asked.

"Yes, well, we thought of that. That's where the portable time-dilation field comes in. Yes, I know it's coming in on the Daedalus, which you're not expecting for another week, but it's going to make it here early. And the answer to your unasked question is no, I have no clue why it's getting here three days early. I just know based on the records I read before I left."

"Well, it was mentioned that you had a list of possible gate addresses that might lead to the quantum mirror you mentioned." Maddie handed the list over to the older woman.

"The first address is the planet where the mirror was found, but we weren't sure if that was its original planet. The rest are all possible places. Based on the translated texts found carved into the walls of the building where it was found, we figure that it might have been used in some sort of ritual. We couldn't tell what, though."

"How did you manage to come by this mirror in the first place?"

"Major O'Neill, Dr. Tse, and Lt. Foster were scouting possible beta sites when they found it in an underground temple on a planet we designated M2F-997. Dr. Tse managed to translate part of the text and took pictures of the entire section before it caved in. It turns out that, before Maj. O'Neill decided to remove the mirror which was actually holding up an entire section of wall. It looked like someone had MacGyvered the system holding the wall up only recently ."

"How recently?" Sheppard asked her.

"It was estimated about 500 to 1000 years ago."

"Oh, so it was that recent, was it?" Maddie nodded, either not noticing or ignoring the colonel's sarcastic tone.

Weir nodded in understanding at the information she was being given. "Alright, I guess you can go provided you find a replacement for Rodney."

"I can go, Dr. Weir. I may not have been with my team when they discovered it, but I did assist in the translations and I saw what the rigging looked like before Jack decided to dismantle it. I don't know how, but Cheng somehow managed to take photos of the system and didn't even know it. I should be of some help, but only if you allow it, Ma'am." Maddie, inwardly winced at the 'Ma'am' that she'd just given her future boss and aunt, but stayed outwardly calm.

"I don't see any reason why you can't. John?" she turned to her military commander & flagship team leader.

"If Ronon and Teyla are okay with it, then I am. It's really Ronon that you need to convince," he said, turning to the woman standing next to him.

"Cool!" she said before waving to Weir, Sheppard, and Zelenka and bounding out of the Atlantis leader's office like a puppy.

Her next stop would be Ronon in the gym to convince him that she should be allowed to join the team on this crucial mission.

* * *

So, was that a satisfactory chapter? Up next, convincing Ronon. 


	10. Satedan War Games and MALP Readings

Chapter 10-Satedan War Games and MALP Energy Readings

Maddie stepped out of the transporter and headed to the gym where the sounds of poor defenseless Marines getting pummeled bounced off the walls and into the hallway. She stopped at the door and watched as the man who had trained every single Earthling in Satedan war games circled the last Marine standing. The Marine of unknown rank lunged at the larger man before being slammed to the ground in two quick moves. Maddie cautiously entered the training area where the men were picking themselves off the ground; both men and women trained with Teyla, but only the men and the women who were foolhardy enough went up against the specialist and former runner.

"You left yourself open on the left," she said to him as he took and sip of water.

"Really? You got that from watching me take down one man?"

"No; I got that from watching you take down a dozen men six years ago when I first came to Atlantis," she told him as she approached, keeping her voice low so that only he could hear.

"Huh. I guess that means that I'm going to have to work on that then."

"Care to spar?" she asked him, pointing to the stave leaning next to the bench.

"You against me?"

"Me with my staff against you with the stave," she replied, taking out the staff that she normally kept concealed in her right boot. "You missed a few weapons before you locked me in the cage," she told him as she extended the metal rod from its measly four inches to its maximum six feet.

The two circled each other, ignoring the audience that surrounded them. Maddie, always a bold woman, made the first move with a feint to the left and a quick thrust to Ronon's right. He barely managed to block it before she swept her weapon of choice beneath his feet, causing him to trip before he caught himself and swept a leg under her feet. She, too, barely missed a meeting with the floor before lightly jumping back six inches and twirling the extended piece of metal in front of her. Ronon's stave caught her staff and sent it flying a few metres away. In order to avoid another collision with the offending piece of wood, she back-flipped until she was a few inches away from her staff, picking it up, she managed to block the stave and stop it from colliding with her. The battle went on between the two seemingly equally-matched opponents before the victor was decided.

Unfortunately for Maddie, it wasn't her. Her strength and endurance began to wane and she soon found herself flat on her back on the mat, her beloved staff several feet away near the door. Ronon was stopped from delivering what could be considered a killing blow by someone holding the staff in a way that blocked Maddie from being bruised any more. Both contenders looked up to see Sheppard holding the staff that protected the young scientist while Teyla watched with curiosity at the scene in front of her.

"I take it Ronon won?" she asked the scientist as she helped her stand.

"Yeah, it usually happens. I've never been able to beat any of you Pegasus natives in training. You've had too much practice. Although, Colonel, you're getting better. You've managed to beat Teyla and me in sparring a few times over the years."

"Well, that's good to hear, I guess. Now, come on you crazy kids, Elizabeth just had a MALP sent to that address you gave us. We're going to see what awaits us in a few minutes."

Ronon nodded to her in acknowledgement for her fighting skills and followed his teammates out of the gym, grabbing his gear on the way out. Happy that she'd managed to give the Satedan a run for his money, Maddie followed the trio out to the nearest transporter. Ronon and Sheppard figured that she didn't need to know about the little conversation that they'd had before Sheppard had come to Zelenka's lab. They had known about the knives and staff hidden in her boots, but it had been the zat she'd had strapped to her hip when she had gotten there that had worried them. _Oh yeah_; she'd completely forgotten about it until Sheppard had handed it to her. The little group was soon in the control room, watching the live video feed from the MALP.

"There's the temple," Maddie pointed to a grouping of rocks that seemed to be surrounding something.

"You're sure?" Sheppard asked her, skeptical.

"Yes. On the original scan in my time, we received energy readings that at the time we thought indicated a ZedPM since we're always in need of one."

"Well, we are definitely getting energy readings similar to those that usually indicate a ZPM," Zelenka, who had stayed with Weir in the control area, said as he looked at the aforementioned energy readings.

"I guess that means you have a go," Weir told the four.

"All right, folks, let's gear up. We'll meet back in thirty minutes. Sound good?" Ronon and Maddie, who were both still a bit warm from their sparring session, nodded. Maddie needed to also get the equipment that Zelenka had promised her and she figured that washing her hair wasn't a big priority at the moment, just a quick shower should be enough.

Ronon, on the other hand, wanted to get a few more knives in case the fighting skills he'd just seen displayed weren't enough. This woman _was_ a McKay after all.

* * *

So, was that up to whatever par this story is on? Please review! 


	11. The Yellow Clay Road

Chapter 11-The Yellow Clay Road

As the Stargate disengaged behind them, Sheppard took in his surroundings. An open area, not much cover should they be attacked. Ahead of them was the "temple" with the infamous quantum mirror (he made not have been with the program long, but he'd read the mission logs). He turned around to grab one of the extra packs off of the second MALP and motioned to his team that he was starting out and began walking towards the "pile of rocks" as Ronon had referred to it when they'd been waiting for the gate to finish dialing.

The temple wasn't as close to the gate as it had looked from the video. In fact, it was a huge structure roughly two-and-a-half football fields in every direction and about 5 kilometres from the gate _uphill_.

"I don't want to sound like Rodney, but why didn't you mention that it was so far from the gate?" Sheppard asked her about twenty minutes into their trek.

"Because when my people came here, it was closer to the gate and on level ground. There must be some kind of geological shift like a quake in the next 25 years," Maddie told them as a way of possible explanation.

"Right. Hey, Doc, doesn't this path remind you of something?" Sheppard turned to the scientist walking behind him.

"Are you talking about the 'Yellow Brick Road' song from _The Wizard of Oz_?" she asked him.

"Yeah; doesn't it make you think of that?"

"Not really. It's more of a clay than a brick, and the color is much more akin to dull yellow as opposed to the bright yellow of Dorothy's road. What?" she asked as she saw her three future superiors glance her way. "I took a painting class for my art credit in university, okay!" She didn't bother to mention that Lorne taught art to the kids every Saturday afternoon in her time and that her three-year-old daughter loved to paint.

Another ten minutes passed by and soon they were at the top of the hill. Upon entering the temple, they all dropped their extra bags and stretched, glad to be of their weighty burdens. After a short respite, all four Lanteans searched the huge temple for the quantum mirror, having been given a picture of the original mirror that had been destroyed all those years ago on Earth. They split the temple up into sections, and each person took one.

"John," Teyla's voice came through the radio about 15 minutes later, "I believe I may have found the mirror."

"Okay, I'm on my way."

"I think I found the remote thing," Ronon said a few minutes later.

"Doc, I'm headed towards Teyla, you go find Ronon," Sheppard told Maddie.

"Sure, just stop calling me 'Doc.' The name's Maddie," Maddie heard herself say in her head. Instead, "Sure. Ronon, how far are you in your section?" came out. Whenever she truly felt like mouthing off to authority, her parents' good teaching and her natural niceness came through. She'd never be as snarky as her uncle.

"About 15 minutes in."

_Great, that'll probably take me thirty minutes to get to from the beginning!_ she thought to herself. "Okay, I'll be there in a bit." She decided to run since it would be the fastest way to reach her destination. It only took her about 10 minutes to get back to the end of her segment where they'd split up. She headed down the corridor that Ronon had gone down and ended up there in 15 minutes.

"What took you so long?" he asked as she tried to catch her breath. She may be in better shape than her uncle, but she was a dancer and fighter, not a runner.

"I had to go back down my section, then go across that giant entrance, and finally come up this section."

"I see. Here," he handed her the water bottle that was attached to the backpack she still carried.

"Thanks," she said before greedily drinking half the bottle. Not the brightest idea, but she was thirsty. "So, where's the remote?" she asked once she was back in relative order.

Ronon showed her the remote and held the tiny flashlight she'd thrust into his hand over the object in her hands while she looked it over.

"Ronon, I do believe you've found it!" he whooped before going on her radio. "Colonel? Ronon was right, we have the remote. How about your end?"

"Well, Teyla found the mirror all right, but it seems to be wedged between the wall and the ceiling. Did we bring anything that could be of use in this situation?"

"Yes we did. Ronon and I are heading back now. We'll grab the necessary equipment and head your way." She turned to the Satedan, took back her flashlight, and headed back down the stone hall.

Approximately 25 minutes later, the duo was headed down the hall that Teyla, and later Col. Sheppard, had disappeared down. It was a much longer trip than would have been normal since they were each bogged down with extra bags; Maddie had two more and Ronon carried three.

"Colonel? Teyla?" Maddie called half an hour later. She was getting tired and her back hurt, but she was never going to admit that.

"We are here," Teyla's disembodied voice called out from beyond a shaft of light.

Trudging on, Ronon and Maddie were soon with Sheppard and Teyla who helped them unburden themselves of their heavy loads. Within minutes, the bags were unloaded and two contraptions that could have only come from the mind of one Radek Zelenka was soon set up and attached to the wall on either side of the mirror. Ronon and Sheppard worked together to lift the ceiling slightly while Teyla and Maddie slid the mirror out from its supportive place. They quickly gathered the remainder of their equipment and were off, mirror and remote in hand, down the corridor, out the temple door, and down the hill.

"Well, that was interesting," Sheppard said, using his characteristic word for "I can't think of anything else to say" as they trudged down the hill.

"Yes, I think that Rodney and a team might like to study the texts that were in the temple. They seemed to be quite extensive," Teyla added as they stopped and she and Maddie took the mirror from Sheppard and Ronon while the men gathered up the packs that the two women had unloaded themselves of.

"Well, if this plan works and we manage to foil the Nocrighta, then I suspect I'll be the only person in Atlantis to have seen those writings unless you do take a team to study them," Maddie told her.

The rest of the journey was done in silence until they reached the gate. When they got through, they were greeted by Marines holding P90's at the ready.

"Sorry, we might have had a close encounter with the Nocrighta a few hours ago," Elizabeth told them as she walked down the steps.

"Are you sure?" Maddie asked.

"Capt. Snyder gave a description that matched the one you gave us," the city's leader told her as Maddie and Teyla handed their awkward load to two Marines.

"They might have just been scavenging," she replied. "That's what they are; the vultures of Pegasus who like to get into the system and muck up the works."

"Sounds pleasant," Sheppard put in.

"They're not," Maddie replied.

"Well, why don't you get yourselves cleaned up and we'll have a briefing in one hour," Elizabeth told them before heading back up the stairs to her office.

"Sounds good," Ronon said before heading to the nearest transporter with the others at his heels.

_I wonder what the __Nocrighta__ are up to_, Maddie thought to herself as she followed.

* * *

Hmm, I wonder indeed. Well? Longest chapter to date! 


End file.
